Front Row

BBC

Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.

  • 42 minutes 12 seconds
    The Great Gatsby centenary, The Testament of Gideon Mack, A New Prize for Contemporary Dance

    We celebrate the centenary of the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel The Great Gatsby, with Fitzgerald experts James West and Sarah Churchwell,

    Writer and performer Matthew Zajac talks about his new theatre production The Testament of Gideon Mack, based on James Robertson's acclaimed book about a Minister who doesn't believe in God, but then meets the Devil,

    And news of a new prize for contemporary dance productions, from SIr Alistair Spalding of Sadler's Wells, and one of the judges of the prize, Dame Arlene Phillips.

    Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Fiona Maclellan

    29 January 2025, 8:14 pm
  • 42 minutes 22 seconds
    Jane Austen's sister, artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman, football in fiction

    As new BBC One drama adaptation, Miss Austen, shines fresh light on Jane Austen's sister Cassandra, Gill Hornby, who wrote the eponymous novel on which Miss Austen is based, and Claire Harman, author of Jane's Fame, How Jane Austen Conquered The World, discuss how perceptions of Cassandra's burning of her sister's letters have been changing.

    Paris-based journalist and cultural critic Agnès Poirier reports on President Macron's announcement at the Louvre.

    Artist Chila Kumari Singh Burman reflects on weaving together personal, historical, and social stories in her exhibition , Chila Welcomes You, at Imperial War Museum North in Manchester.

    Alex Allison and George Harrison on their new novels which centre on football. Alex's Greatest of All Time is a tender gay love story set among a fictional premiership team in the North East while George Harrison's Season is a cross generational tale of two dedicated football fans that stretches over a season.

    Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

    28 January 2025, 8:41 pm
  • 42 minutes 22 seconds
    25 Years of 21st Century: Music

    Front Row looks at how culture has changed in the first 25 years of this century, starting with Music.

    Samira is joined by Radio 4's Add to Playlist hosts Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe, music journalist Kitty Empire and former Spotify exec Will Page.

    They discuss how transformations in technology have impacted what we listen to and what music is being written, and what genres of music have come to the forefront in the last 25 years.

    Pete Waterman, one of the judges on the original Pop Idol, talks about the explosion of TV music competitions.

    And the Master of the Kings Music, composer Errollyn Wallen, explores how classical music has changed and evolved.

    Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

    27 January 2025, 8:08 pm
  • 43 minutes 21 seconds
    Review: supernatural thriller film Presence, Edmund White's sex memoir and Brazil! Brazil! at the Royal Academy

    Rowan Pelling, journalist and founding editor of the Erotic Review, and the film critic Tim Robey join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the Oscar nominations and review Edmund White's The Loves of My Life, Steven Soderbergh's supernatural horror thriller Presence and Brazil! Brazil! a major exhibition featuring 20th century artists at the Royal Academy in London.

    Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

    23 January 2025, 8:37 pm
  • 42 minutes 23 seconds
    James Graham on Brian & Maggie, The Merchant of Venice, Live music from Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart

    Writer James Graham on his Channel 4 drama Brian & Maggie, which stars Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter, and which tells the story of a hard-hitting interview between broadcaster Brian Walden and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which helped precipitate Thatcher's downfall in the early 1990s,

    John Douglas Thompson talks about playing Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice as a black actor, in a production by Theatre for a New Audience which is at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre,

    And live music from Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart, who have collaborated with Mary Chapin Carpenter on a new album, Looking for the Thread.

    Presenter: Kate Molleson Producer: Mark Crossan

    22 January 2025, 8:07 pm
  • 42 minutes 19 seconds
    Anora director Sean Baker, Caryl Phillips's new novel, Somerset House exhibition on Soil

    Anora is one of the leading contenders in the current film awards season - and its star Mikey Madison looks likely to get an Oscar nomination too. Its director Sean Baker explains how he uses both violence and comedy to explore the story of a son of a Russian oligarch who becomes entangled in the world of a sex worker in New York.

    Caryl Phillips talks about his new novel, Another Man in the Street about a young Caribbean man's search for a new home in 1960s London and the other people, all migrants in different ways, who become part of his life there.

    And Soil is more than dirt - co-curators Claire Catterall and May Rosenthal Sloan explain how a new exhibition at Somerset House in London sheds light on how the ground under our feet has played a crucial role in human civilisation, with 50 artists in the show using sculpture, painting, tapestry and video to explore its qualities.

    Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Paula McGrath

    21 January 2025, 8:07 pm
  • 42 minutes 21 seconds
    The Brutalist director Brady Corbet and star Adrien Brody, Sidney Poitier season at BFI

    The Brutalist's director Brady Corbet and star Adrien Brody talk about making the hotly anticipated film. With a season of Sidney Poitier's films underway at the British Film Institute and a play about a key moment in his early, Retrograde, transferring to London's West End in March we discuss the legacy of the great actor with - writer, Ryan Calais Cameron and programmer, Jonathan Ali. Natalie Andrews of the Wall Street Journal discusses the cultural elements of the 47th President's inauguration ceremony.

    Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

    20 January 2025, 8:12 pm
  • 42 minutes 17 seconds
    Review: Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, TS Eliot prize poetry, Italian wartime film Vermiglio

    Lemn Sissay and Rhianna Dhillon review the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown starring Timothée Chalamet, the TS Eliot Prize-winning poetry collection Fierce Elegy by Peter Gizzi and the Italian language film, Vermiglio set in a remote Alpine village during World War Two.

    We pay homage to David Lynch, director of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. Plus Mark Savage gives the latest on the feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake

    Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

    16 January 2025, 8:27 pm
  • 42 minutes 41 seconds
    Franz Ferdinand play in the studio, Richard Price on his new novel Lazarus Man, verdict on BAFTA nominations

    Franz Ferdinand play live from their new album The Human Fear, eleven songs which explore deep-set human anxieties and how overcoming and accepting them drives and defines our lives.

    Richard Price - the author of Clockers, and a writer on The Wire, talks about his latest novel, Lazarus Man, a chronicle of New York life set in the aftermath of a destructive explosion.

    Plus a response to this year's BAFTA nominations, which were announced today, from film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.

    Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

    15 January 2025, 8:09 pm
  • 42 minutes 51 seconds
    Vivaldi's Four Seasons reimagined, impact of L.A. fires on culture, Leigh Whannell's new horror film, Dead Ink Books

    Sir Michael Morpurgo and violinist Daniel Pioro discusss reimagining Vivaldi's Four Seasons for a recording with the Manchester Camerata featuring new poetry by Sir Michael and improvisations by Daniel.

    Pat Saperstein, Deputy Editor of Variety, and Peter Bowes, BBC Correspondent in Los Angeles reflect on the impact of the L. A fires on the film, television, music and visual arts worlds.

    Leigh Whannell, the co-creator of the blockbuster Saw horror film franchise, talks about his new film Wolf Man, which is the follow-up to his hit 2020 film The Invisible Man, bringing yet another of Universal's iconic monsters back to the big screen.

    Dead Ink Books, a small independent publisher in Liverpool began life in a bedroom but now it's winning major literary prizes. MD Nathan Connnolly discusses its success and its latest prize-winner.

    Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

    14 January 2025, 8:44 pm
  • 42 minutes 23 seconds
    Michael Sheen, Matthew Bourne on Oliver! and ghostwriting

    Actor Michael Sheen explains how he was rehearsing his role as the creator of the NHS, Nye Bevan when he heard about the demise of National Theatre Wales and decided to make plans for a new organisation, using some of his own money. Matthew Bourne talks about his new stage production of the musical Oliver! and the 30th anniversary tour of his groundbreaking version of the ballet Swan Lake. The society of authors has asked for Ghostwriters to be recognised, particularly when celebrities are involved. We speak to two ghostwriters about this potentially secretive process.

    Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

    13 January 2025, 8:11 pm
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